Scent of Love

by Cristina Grenier

  He shook his head, “Bye Mom.”

  He could hear her yelling as he walked down the hallway, “I’m serious, Alex! If she is not up to par, she’s not allowed to push out my grandbabies! And that is plural; you hear me! More than one!”

  He walked back outside as Henry and Shaun spoke to each other. They both smiled at him when he came back outside, “Hey, son. Are you alright?”

  “I'm fine, Dad. Shaun, are you ready to go?”

  “Certainly.”

  Shaun opened the door for Alex as his father stepped in, keeping it from closing, “Hey son, how’s the company going?”

  “It’s going well, Dad.”

  He answered without looking at him, “Good, good. You know that kid out of UCLA. What’s his name? Currie.”

  “Anderson. I’m on it, Dad. I got it under control.”

  “Ok. Make sure you do because nabbing a guy like him is something that Saavy cannot let slip! He is a projected-”

  “First round pick, I know Dad.”

  “Ok. Ok. Oh, and son?”

  Alex looked towards his Dad, “What?”

  He pulled the pills out of his pocket, “Do you want some of these to go?”

  “Oh my God. Shaun, drive now, please.”

  Alex’s dad was the older version of Alex. They both shared the trait for corny jokes and pickup lines. He got it honestly. As Shaun drove down the winding driveway, Alex couldn’t help but think about what his Mom said. In actuality, he was beginning to get tired of having sex with random women. If he could have it his way, he would prefer something more stable. Something that he could build on like his parents did. He was just a little older now than they were when they got married and his father was 27 when Alex was born. I’ve got two years; he said to himself as Shaun finally made it outside the property. I’ve got two years to find someone and start a family, he thought. But I’m Alex Rawlings. This won’t be hard at all. He put his glasses on and reclined in his seat while Shaun drove him home.

  Chapter 3: It all got old, very fast

  “I got it!”

  Jerry said as he paced back and forth in Alex’s office, “Morgan Shroeder.”

  “Who?”

  “Morgan Shroeder.”

  He spoke as Alex looked out through his binoculars towards the beach again. It was like his guilty pleasure; peeping outside his window at unsuspecting women, prancing around in their bikinis in the sand. He felt himself getting aroused but oddly, he thought about his dad as it was happening.

  “I don’t need your got-damned pills, dad”, he said out loud.

  “Uh, did you say something, Alex?”

  Startled, he dropped the binoculars and spun around, “What? Oh, no. I was just… ummm…. Morgan? Tell me about Morgan.”

  “Right. Ok, I went to State with Morgan. She is drop dead gorgeous! I mean, she is as fine as wine. She is cuter than a button. She is so cute, she’d-”

  Alex cut Jerry’s rambling short, “Ok, I get it. Tell me something else about her.”

  Jerry glanced at his cell phone as he spoke, “Ok. Well, she’s an English major, and she teaches 11th grade now. She is single, no kids. She loves going go-karting and mini-golfing. She likes to stay active, and she is currently watching, Love and Basketball.”

  “What?”

  “She’s watching Love and Basketball.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I’m reading her Facebook profile to you.”

  Alex stood up, “You’re stalking her?”

  “What? No! I’m looking at this stuff for you!”

  “You’re stalking her!”

  “I’m not!”

  Alex walked over to Jerry’s phone, “Let me see her Facebook.”

  They scrolled through pictures, analyzing everything they saw from pictures of various men she posed with to the locations of some of the pictures. Jerry was interested in her, but she had no intentions of giving him the slightest chance. Jerry was too, how do you say, clingy for her. He wanted to be with her every second of every day, and it was too much. But Jerry was so eager to please Alex that he put his personal feelings toward her aside so that he could have that chance to find true love.

  “Ok, set it up.”

  “I’ll get right on it, boss.”

  He got up and made his way out of the room, “Oh, and Jerry, make sure she knows I’m awesome.”

  “I already got it down, boss.”

  Jerry left the room as Alex walked back over to the basketball. He picked the ball up, bounced it a few times as if he was on the free-throw line. The ball was tossed to the hoop and this time, it went in, nothing but net. He began strutting around the room as if he had just hit the game-winning shot. As he was in mid-strut, knocks barraged his door.

  “Who is it?”

  “It’s Jonathan!”

  He said as he barged in, completely panicking,

  “We’re going to lose him! You gotta’ talk to him!”

  “Wait, just calm down, buddy! Lose who?”

  “We’re going to lose Currie! You gotta’ say something!”

  “Holy shit, man! How the fuck are we about to lose him?!”

  “I... I don’t know, Alex! Here, just get on the phone! He’s on line 2!”

  “Jesus, man! Alright, alright, I got it!”

  He calmed himself down, “Hello, Mr. Anderson.”

  “Nope. It’s Jerry. I was just letting you know that Morgan said she wants to go out with you. I’m going to text you her number.”

  He looked at Jonathan, “Man, what the hell?”

  “What?”

  “This is Jerry.”

  Jerry spoke up, “Hey man, don’t be mad at Jonathan. I made up that story just so I could hear you shit bricks!”

  He laughed, “And it worked!”

  “You asshole!”

  Alex hung up the phone as Jonathan left the room. He went back to the basketball hoop and threw another shot up. It clanged off the side of the rim and knocked a few things off his desk.

  “That fucking asshole.”

  He met Morgan at Shei Pierre’s, an expensive restaurant just outside of downtown. He even drove himself there in his Maserati. If he wanted things to go different, he figured that he had to mix things up. He was already inside the restaurant when she showed up. She was even more beautiful in person than her Facebook pictures. Her eyes were baby blue and had a slight Asian slant to them. She had a skinny waist, but her bosom was much larger, almost disproportionate to the rest of her body, but Alex was just like any other man; he had no problem with that at all. Her long black hair stretched down to the middle of her back, and her lips were full and shapely. He was indeed impressed with her, and she felt the same way about him. When she begged Jerry for more info about Alex, he told her that he was rich. Completely loaded with money. It was that, and that alone that made her want to even give Alex a shot. She was actually in a complicated relationship with somebody else, but she would be willing to drop him at any moment if things worked out with Alex. She smiled when he approached her, “Morgan?”

  “Yes,” She said calmly, “And you’re Alex, right?”

  “I am.”

  They smiled at each other for a few moments until it became awkward. Alex motioned for the host to come to them.

  “Are you two ready to be seated?”

  “We are.”

  They followed the host to their table as Morgan reached out, linking her hand inside of Alex’s. He smiled as that annoying bounce in his step re-appeared. It was like a force of habit. The times when his cockiness was coming in full force was when that obdurate walk appeared. The restaurant was eight stories high, the top story being the one that needed a $100 reservation fee with a $200 minimum order. The restaurant was just about 100 yards away from the ocean. It was the perfect view for a romantic evening between two people. An $800 bottle of wine sat in a bucket of ice at their table when they arrived. Her eyes lit up with joy when she saw it. He pulled her seat out for her and then w
alked over to his own. She immediately began pouring the wine into her glass, drinking it down like it was cheap alcohol. Alex didn’t mind at all because he wanted her to enjoy herself. After all, this date was possibly his last first date he would ever have. They flipped open the menu, “You can get anything you want. It’s on me, you know? Because I know how to take care of my women, uh... I mean, woman. My woman… when I have one because I don’t have women.”

  He laughed nervously, “Because that would make me some sort of player and I’m definitely not that. I just, um.”

  She looked at him curiously, “So, do you like Salmon?”

  She completely ignored his rambling, “I love salmon!”

  “You should try it. The salmon here is to die for… just like your beauty.”

  She smiled, forcing it more than it being natural. She was going to make him believe that she was into him if it killed her.

  “Oh, my goodness! You are so sweet! That was so sweet of you!”

  He smiled, “I know, babe. I know. I’m just that kind of guy.”

  He stared at her, attempting to pass off a sexy look. At the same time, he reached over for his glass, trying to drink out of his straw. He opened his mouth and completely missed the straw, sucking on air. He laughed to hide his embarrassment, opening his mouth to search for the straw again. It took him a few moments before his lips actually connected with it, “So, are you going to get the Salmon?”

  Her eyes lit up, “I am! I definitely am!”

  They ordered their food and not too long after that; it arrived at their table. They spent the evening with Alex cracking corny jokes and Morgan forcing laughter. It was painfully obvious that she was doing so as some of the customers glared over at their table with looks of annoyance. Her forceful laughter was loud and obnoxious as she did much to sell her enjoyment to him. Alex leaned back in his chair as other patrons looked at their table, giving them the wink and the gun.

  “I’m just a funny guy,” He said to them, “What can I say?”

  After dinner, he walked her to her car, hand in hand. She was slightly intoxicated but not enough to impair her from driving. She knew that she had drank much more in her college days and still drove home, so this was nothing new to her. She didn’t want this night to end. She had other plans, “So, can I come by your place? I mean, maybe we can watch a movie on Netflix… and chill.”

  Alex wasn’t hip to the slang terminology. He literally thought she wanted to go to his house and watch a movie, so he was alright with it. He wasn’t trying to have sex with her. For once, he just wanted to get to know a woman before it became physical. She followed him to his house, a mini version of his parent’s castle-like mansion. He got out of the car as she parked behind him, “Well, this is my place. It’s not much but… Ok, I lied, it is much but hey, I don’t want to brag.”

  She smiled, anxious to go inside, “It’s beautiful. Let’s go inside.”

  She grabbed his hand and pulled him to the door as he unlocked it and led her to the front room. She plopped down on the couch as he walked to the TV, picked up his remote and flipped on the station to Netflix.

  “Now, what kind of movie do you want to watch? Horror? Suspense? Comedy?”

  As he was speaking, Morgan was slowly undressing. He was unaware of it all as she slid her pants off and tossed them on the ground. Her shirt and bra followed soon after. Alex kept talking when suddenly, she came up behind him completely naked. Her large breasts were staring him right in the face as she pressed her body up against his.

  “Fuck me!” She said aggressively.

  He dropped the remote, “But wait, I just… I just wanted to.”

  “You just wanted to fuck me!”

  “No! No! That’s not it! I didn’t want to-”

  “Fuck me!”

  She grabbed him and unbuckled his pants as he screamed, trying to get away from her. She pulled him in closer as she wrestled his pants off of him and onto the floor. He was fully erect, ‘fuck you, dad’, he said out loud.

  “What?”

  “Oh, uhh… huh?”

  She ignored him and pulled him down on the couch. He covertly slipped on a condom as she got on top of him and rode him as if she was possessed. She flung her hair back and forth while her titties slapped him in the face.

  “More, more!” She yelled as she kept moving errantly on top of him. “Yes, yes! Fuck me! Fuck me just like that with your rich dick!”

  “Rich Dick?!”

  He said out loud as she ground on him harder and wilder.

  “I’m coming, I’m coming!”

  He yelled, “Yes! Yes! I am too! Yes!”

  “Aaaaaaaaahhh!”

  Alex came and soon after, she stopped. Her movements were no longer erratic, and she completely calmed down as she got off of him and sat down on the couch. She put her hand on her stomach and leaned backward, “Oh my God, I think I’m pregnant now. How does this child support thing work? Will you be paying me every month? Do you want to start now so you can get ahead of it?”

  Alex lowered his eyes while he looked at her, completely taken back by what she just said. Pregnant? He thought to himself. What the hell is wrong with this woman? Jerry is an asshole.

  Chapter 4: Have you seen her?

  Alex sat in his office the next day, somberly overlooking the city through his large window. He squeezed the stress ball in his hand firmly as he took deep breaths. The sun was at its peak in the air, but today, he didn’t have the urge to watch the beachgoers from a distance. For some odd reason, the thrill was beginning to fade as he turned to look at the picture of his parents on his desk. They were both smiling in each other’s arms, appearing to be the happiest couple on this side of the moon. Something was pricking his heart; something that was causing him to desire that type of love with another woman. Since his junior year in High School, he had gone from woman to woman with great one night stands and spring break flings. Maybe what his Mother said had finally begun to sink in, granted, she had been saying it for years, but maybe now it was just starting to hit home with him. He sighed, spinning away from the picture and fixing his gaze back to the window. There was a knock on his door, but he didn’t even acknowledge them. Moments later, the knock came again and then suddenly, the door swung open, “What the hell, man? I’ve been knocking! What are you in here doing? Jacking off or something?”

  Jerry said, making his way over to Alex’s desk. He still didn’t budge as he sat there, consistently squeezing the stress ball to the point that his hand was becoming red.

  “Alex? Man, what’s up? Did you go out with Morgan last night?”

  He spun around in his chair, “Yes, I did.”

  Jerry stood up and approached him as he smiled, oblivious to what Alex was thinking.

  “So, how was it? Did you bang her?”

  Alex threw the stress ball at Jerry, smacking him on the head, “Why did you set me up with that crazy woman!?” The ball rolled onto the ground.

  “Crazy?! I thought that’s what you wanted? “

  “How could you possibly believe that when I literally told you, ‘I want to settle down’?!”

  “What? Aw man, you say that all the time and I never take you seriously. Why the hell would you want to settle down? Most men would kill to be in your position! You have to damn near beat the women off with a stick!”

  Alex began moving closer to him as Jerry nervously backed away, “Do you know what that woman did to me last night?”

  “What? What did she do!?”

  “She basically raped me!”

  “What?! How could she… wait, just hold on a minute! She raped you?”

  Jerry began to drift into a fantasy world where he was the one being raped by Morgan. He fantasized about her so much that it nearly consumed his thoughts. He went on to Facebook some days just to look at her pictures so he could be the first one to “like” another one when she uploaded it. Alex picked up the stress ball again and threw it at him harder this time, smacking him in
the forehead, “Yes, she basically did rape me! Well, I mean I didn’t do much to resist because I didn’t mind… but it was damn near rape; I tell you!”

  “Whoa, just calm down, Alex!”

  “And then she had the nerve to jump off of me right after it was done and tell me she was pregnant… and started asking me how I wanted to make child support payments!”

  He stopped trying to get away from Alex and burst out into laughter, “She did what?!”

  “Yes! And to make things worse, I had a condom on!”

  Jerry laughed harder as Alex walked back over to his desk and took a seat,

  “Wow, bro, I… I didn’t know she was that crazy. I mean, she didn’t seem like it on Facebook.”

  “On Facebook? Is that the only way you know her!?”

  “No, I said I went to State with her.”

  He gleaned directly into Jerry’s eyes, “Did you know her?”

  “I um… I mean, we had a couple of classes together, and I distinctly remember her saying hi to me at least a few times.”

  “God-damn it, Jerry! God-damn it!”

  Jerry apologized to Alex for setting him up on a horrendous first date, but Alex brushed him off. He knew the woman of his dreams had to be out there somewhere. Maybe he was just looking in the wrong places or perhaps, he had sex with so many women in the city that the pool of women now available was just too small to choose from. He grabbed the football off the table and began tossing it in the air as Jerry spoke empty words to him that were apparently being ignored. Just then, there was another knock at the door.

  “I got it, boss.” Jerry said as he went over to open it. As soon as she came into the room, Alex’s eyes locked on her as if she was the only one in the room. He took his eyes off the football that was seemingly suspended in the air. It smacked him in the head seconds later, “Um, are you alright?” She said, pausing as she stood in front of his desk.

  “Oh, that?” He laughed, “That’s nothing. I’ve been smacked in my head with balls so many times that things like that don’t even phase me.”